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Security

Security is the degree of protection to safeguard a nation, union of nations, persons or person against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection where a separation is created between the assets and the threat". This includes but is not limited to the elimination of either the asset or the threat. Security as a national condition was defined in a United Nations study (1986): so that countries can develop and progress safely.

Security has to be compared to related concepts: safety, continuity, reliability. The key difference between security and reliability is that security must take into account the actions of people attempting to cause destruction.

Different scenarios also give rise to the context in which security is maintained:

659 Recent Stories

UPDATE, March 20, 2010 9PM EST: Microsoft VP and Deputy General Counsel John Frank has issued a statement offering more insight into this situation and its policies concerning user privacy. It is embedded in its entirety at the bottom of this post. A...

In a challenge to one of Google's more controversial practices, a group of students in California are suing Google, claiming that the company's monitoring of Gmail violates federal and state privacy laws. The U.S. District Court for the Northern Dist...

Target was prepared for its massive hack in November and knew of it early on, but did nothing to stop it, according to a report. A Bloomberg Businessweek claims that, months prior to the attack, the retailer installed a $1.6 million malware detection...

Call them Glassoldiers. The American military may soon be filled with soldiers sporting Google Glass-like headgear that can measure distances, display 3D building layouts, transmit video from a drone and more, all on a glass display right in front of...

Early computer viruses spread over what we called "sneaker net," with one infected floppy disk inserted in one computer after another. Online networks make infections move much faster -- but, until now, all the infections had been from computer to co...

Over the past few months, various phone companies have unveiled "ultra-secure" smartphones, ostensibly in response to growing concerns about digital privacy in the wake of allegations from former NSA analyst Edward Snowden. Now, one company is making...

The mountain of trouble that has been piling up for Mt. Gox just got even larger. Once the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, Mt. Gox shut its digital doors and later filed for bankruptcy this week after losing hundreds of millions of dollars wor...

BARCELONA, Spain -- Besides wearables and cheap phones, another topic that got a great deal of mention at this year's Mobile World Congress was privacy. We've taken a close look at the Blackphone, an Android smartphone that does a lot to make sure yo...

BARCELONA, Spain -- Weathered veterans of the Mobile World Congress will tell you that this year's event suffered from too many pre-announced devices (thus undercutting the on-site news value), or that not enough of the big names in mobile (read: App...

Blackphone, a new security and privacy-focused smartphone is finally launching, but if you think it's a shield against the NSA or other powerful intelligence agencies snooping on your private communications, you're probably out of luck. The producers...

LinkedIn users can now block anyone pestering them on the the platform. After the company received repeated requests for a blocking feature, the company announced Thursday that users will now be able to block or report those on LinkedIn they don't wa...

It's midnight and you're soothing your insomnia by purchasing a pair of shoes on a daily deals website. You click through to the checkout page only to find you can't connect your PayPal account; you'll have to input your credit card data manually and...

Kickstarter, a leading crowdfunding site, revealed it was hacked last week. In a blog post published Saturday, Kickstarter said law-enforcement officials contacted the company Wednesday night, and alerted it to unauthorized access by hackers. No cred...

Most of us are pretty bad at coming up with secure passwords. But as it turns out, we may not be alone: U.S government agencies and their employees are just as challenged as the rest of us. Several government agencies, including the Department of Hom...

Passwords, even strong ones, aren't enough to protect you. Your online accounts are only as safe as the security policies of the companies that hold them. At least that's the apparent lesson to be learned from Naoki Hiroshima's epic account of how on...

Despite positive memories of the Mac’s 30-year history, questions still loom over Apple’s relationship with the National Security Agency following allegations that the Cupertino, Calif. company worked with the NSA to create a backdoor in its products...

Another hacker has publicly bested Snapchat's security features. A blog post published Wednesday shows how developer Steven Hickson was able to bypass Snapchat's most recent security feature, which attempts to protect the service against bot accounts...

The security firm that conducts 45% of all background checks for potential U.S. government employees may have falsified hundreds of thousands of background checks over a four-year period. The Justice Department is accusing U.S. Investigations Service...

Snapchat is trying to make it more difficult for hackers to spam your phone number. The photo-messaging app has rolled out a new form of captcha to prevent fake users from signing up for an account, according to TechCrunch. Rather than decoding words...

A lone hacker has leaked data from the credit cards of 20 million in South Korea, meaning the personal data of about 40% of the country's population has been compromised. A contract IT worker for Korea Credit Bureau, the office that produces credit s...

An upcoming smartphone called Blackphone aims to put privacy in your hands, protecting you from anyone wanting to snoop into your private data -- even the NSA. A Switzerland-based join venture between Silent Circle and Geeksphone, the project is back...

Airports worldwide are starting to replace security officials with machines to identify passengers, and those machines could soon start checking your bags. The machines should make the check-in process safer and more efficient, allowing passengers a ...

LAS VEGAS -- Fingerprint scanning is all the rage ever since Apple put it at everyone's fingertips in the iPhone 5S, but one company has an arguably better take on biometric security. EyeLock is a company that develops iris scanners for security chec...

Bumping up the quality of do-it-yourself home security tools, Samsung has unveiled a new set of security cameras that you can control using a mobile app on your tablet or smartphone. The SmartCam HD ($179) comes from the same family as the security d...

Nearly six-months after his sudden death, the autopsy report for revered hacker Barnaby Jack reveals that the New Zealand-born security professional died of an accidental drug overdose. Jack, who was living in San Francisco, died of a mixed overdose ...

Just a decade ago, password theft seemed the province of poorly protected Hotmail accounts and AIM screen names. These days, virtually every company with access to our personal data, from Target to The New York Times to Facebook and Gmail, has been h...

With more and more employees getting work done on the go, mobile devices are quickly becoming a huge security risk for companies, new research shows. A study by the Ponemon Institute, a security research center, and Lumension, a provider of end-point...

Credit-card data stolen during a massive data breach at Target last month is hitting the black market, according to multiple reports. Cybersecurity firm Easy Solutions "noticed a 10- to 20-fold increase in the number of high-value stolen cards on bla...

Let’s start with the bad news: Your webcam is vulnerable. It can be remotely activated and you won’t even know it’s on. A report this month in the Washington Post revealed that the FBI figured out how to do this years ago. Now for the good news: You ...

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